Thursday, November 02, 2017

From the Roman Breviary of 1529, the continuation of the sermon for the feast of All Saints.

Now therefore, dearest brethren, at the origin of all the Saints, we must name, praise and glorify Him who made them, through whom all things were made, through whom all parts of the world subsist, whose majesty beginneth not nor endeth forever, that He may rightly be named as the beginning and end of every creature. Whence it was said by a wise man, “All wisdom is from the Lord God, and hath been always with Him, and is before all time. Who hath measured the height of heaven, and the breadth of the earth, and the depth of the abyss? Who hath numbered the sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, and the days of the world?” (Sirach 1, 1-2) He alone can search out and measure and number all these things, who in His wisdom encompasseth the circuit of heaven, and in His might reacheth unto the depth of the abyss.

A famous poet considereth that the wisdom of God can do and know all things, saying “Who numberest the stars, whose names dost Thou alone know, their signs, powers, courses, places and times.” (Sedulius, Carmen Paschale I, 66-67) And the Apostle, led by the Holy Spirit, reminds us that it is beyond the measure of man to search out His beginning and power, saying “O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and recompense shall be made him? For of him, and by him, and in him, are all things: to him be glory for ever. Amen.” (Romans 11, 33-36, the Epistle of Trinity Sunday.)

The Adoration of the Holy Trinity, by Vicente López y Portaña, 1791-92